Priory Lane Community School

Building a Temple

Athens was the largest city in Greece, and controlled a region called Attica. Between the many mountains were fertile valleys, with many farms. Athens became rich because Attica also had valuable sources of silver, lead and marble. Athens also had the biggest navy in Greece.

Athens was a beautiful and busy city. People came to the city from all over Greece, and from other countries, to study and to trade. The city's most famous building was the temple called the Parthenon. It stood on a rocky hill called the Acropolis. Inside the Parthenon stood a statue of the city's protector-goddess Athena.

The most important and widespread building type in ancient Greece was the temple. The first stone temples appeared some time during the early 6th century BC and began to appear in large numbers in the next century. The purpose of a Greek temple was usually to house a cult statue or emblem. Religion did not require people to gather inside the temple to worship, and their temples were primarily monuments to the gods. The most recognizable feature of the Greek temple are the massive columns. The Greeks used three types of columns: the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian order.